Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The following countries align themselves with this statement: North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, Albania^*, Ukraine^*, the Republic of Moldova^*, Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, Iceland⁺, Liechtenstein⁺, Norway⁺ and San Marino.

The European Union welcomes the Director General's update on the implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and the implementation status of the Additional Protocol in Iran contained in document GOV/2022/63 and thanks Deputy Director General Aparo for the technical briefing. We commend both the Director General and the Secretariat for their professional, objective, independent and impartial work in verifying Iran's safeguards obligations. The EU encourages the IAEA to continue to use all safeguards-relevant information available to it as per standard practice.

For the past years, the EU has repeatedly expressed, and again reiterates today, its serious concerns at the presence of nuclear material at undeclared locations in Iran. The EU is deeply concerned that the current location of this nuclear material and/or of equipment contaminated by nuclear material, which may still exist in Iran today, is not known to the Agency.

On many occasions, the EU has called on Iran to provide the IAEA with the necessary explanations in accordance with the obligations under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. The Board of Governors adopted two resolutions, in June 2020 and June 2022, to call on Iran to clarify those outstanding safeguards issues.  At the September 2022 Board Meeting, 56 States emphasized this call through a Joint Statement. Despite those repeated calls for action, Iran has yet to take the necessary actions and provide technically credible explanations

Procedural steps are not enough, Iran needs to provide substantive action.

The EU remains concerned that the Agency cannot confirm the correctness and completeness of Iran’s declarations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement, unless and until Iran provides technically credible explanations and informs the Agency of the current location(s) of the nuclear material and/or contaminated equipment. The Agency is therefore not in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful. These issues will remain under our close scrutiny, without any complacency, until Iran provides the expected technically credible explanations.

Recalling the resolutions adopted in June 2020 and June 2022, the EU and its Member States strongly support the resolution proposed by France, Germany, the UK and the USA and call on other Board members to support it. Substantial action by Iran is now essential and urgent to preserve the integrity of the IAEA’s safeguard regime.

We take note that Iran agreed to resume its engagement with the Agency towards resolving the outstanding safeguards issues and that a technical visit to Tehran is expected to take place before the end of November 2022. We urge Iran not to miss this new opportunity to provide the expected technically credible explanations, including access to locations and material, as well as the taking of samples as appropriate.

The EU recalls that the current global verification standard is based on the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement combined with an Additional Protocol. The vast majority of the IAEA’s Members States and among them all EU member states have accepted this standard.  The EU reiterates its full support to and trust in the IAEA for the fulfilment of its mandate under the NPT Safeguards Agreements. We stress that the implementation of modified Code 3.1 is a legal obligation for Iran under its CSA, which cannot be modified or suspended unilaterally and urge Iran to resolve this issue.  The EU strongly supports DG Grossi’s tireless efforts to pursue constructive engagement with Iran in order to address all issues that need to be urgently resolved.  

The EU takes note of the report, looks forward to the Director General continuing to report to the Board of Governors, as appropriate, and requests that this report be made public. The EU expects rapid and tangible progress to be achieved in the shortest timeframe and shall consider further action accordingly.

Thank you, Chair.

* Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, as well as potential Candidate Country Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

+ Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are members of the EFTA and of the European Economic Area.